Lifejacket pouch

ABSTRACT

A lifejacket pouch in the form of a pocket ( 3 ), is located beneath the seat surface of an aircraft seat. Wall pieces ( 17 ) move relative to each other and may be fixed in a position adjacent to each other along an opening edge ( 7 ) of the pocket ( 3 ). A closure device includes at least a pair of retaining elements to generate a closing force acting between the wall pieces at the opening edge ( 7 ). The elements may be overcome by a manually-operated tear-strip ( 13 ) for opening the pocket ( 3 ), having a tie strip ( 11 ), acting on the pair of retaining elements. A combination of a press-stud closure and a tie strip ( 11 ) on the tear strip, through which the above extends, offers a high closure security and a possibility of opening particularly simply and rapidly with a good closing force. At least one pair of retaining elements includes a press-stud closure ( 21, 23 ). The tie strip ( 11 ) has an opening ( 25 ) through which the press stud closure ( 21, 23 ) extend.

FIELD OF THE INVENTION

The present invention relates to a life jacket pouch in the form of apocket located beneath the seat surface. The pocket has wall componentswhich move relative to each other and which may be fixed in positionadjacent to each other along an opening edge of the pocket by a closuredevice. The closure device comprises at least one pair of retainingelements to generate a closing force acting between the wall elements.The closing force may be overcome to open the pocket by a manuallyoperated opening strip having a tie strip acting on the pair ofretaining elements.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

Life jacket pouches are in use throughout the world in aircraft made bythe most famous manufacturers. The principal requirements to be set forlife jacket pouches are that the opening edge of the pouch be reliablyclosed under normal conditions so that the life jacket it contains isavailable for use intact, while allowing the seat occupant to open theclosure device rapidly and by especially simple means when the need foruse or an emergency arises. Conventional life jacket pouches do notfully meet these requirements. In the current customary design, theclosure device has a flat fastener provided on the opening edge of thepouch in the form of a pad and hook strip through which the tear flapextends. While the pouch itself can be rapidly and easily opened whennecessary, the closure device does not afford adequate certainty thatthe pouch will not be opened unintentionally.

DE-A-199 44 619 discloses an aircraft passenger seat with a life jacketbeing mounted and with upholstery components enhancing seating comfort.The mounting option is represented by at least one upholstery component.The life jacket is designed as an integral component of the respectiveupholstery component located on the top of the leg rest. The upholsteryin question is replaced by the life jacket, so that weight reductionrelative to conventional solutions is effected, providing a favorableeffect on the payload situation in the aircraft. By simply spreading theseat occupant's legs, the life jacket integrated into the aircraftpassenger seat as an upholstery component is rapidly accessible. Thissolution provides adequate safety from unintentional opening of thefolded life jacket, and represents another modern concept of integrationof a life jacket into the aircraft passenger seat. Since a leg or footrest is necessarily provided in this solution, the solution normallyapplies only to aircraft passenger seats in the first-class or businesssection.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

Objects of the present invention are to provide a life jacket pocketwhere the closure device provides adequate safety from unintentionalopening of the pouch, while permitting the life jacket pocket to beeasily and rapidly opened when necessary.

In the case of a life jacket pocket of this type, the foregoing objectsare attained by at least one pair of restraining elements having apress-stud closure and by a tie strip having an opening through whichthe press-stud closure extends.

The combination of the present invention, having a press-stud closureand a tie strip through which the press-stud of the opening stripextends, provides both the desired reliability of closure because of theclosing force made available by the press-stud closure and thepossibility of especially simple and rapid opening. Since the press-studclosure extends through an opening in the tie strip, and since the tiestrip accordingly is positioned between the interacting half-elements ofthe press-stud closure, the snap connection of the half-elements whenload is applied to the tie strip is definitely guaranteed.

The design of the present invention complies fully with the approvalguidelines laid down by the standard world authorities for aviationequipment, such as the FAR, Part 25, issued by the United States FAA.

In an advantageous exemplary embodiment of the present invention, onehalf-element of the press-stud closure is not rigidly connected to thefront spar of the seat extending in the transverse direction, but ratheris movably suspended from the spar by being mounted on a mounting linkanchored to the spar. A particular additional advantage is derived,since, by the restriction of mobility by the mounting link, reliableopening of the snap connection is guaranteed independently of thedirection in which the seat occupant pulls the opening strip. As aresult, the life jacket pocket of the present invention also meetscriteria of more demanding requirements set by renowned aircraftequipment manufacturers. These requirements include that it be possibleto open the closure device with certainty if the seat occupant operatingthe opening strip pulls the strip in directions which lie within anangular range of at least 90°, specifically 45°, above and 45° below thehorizontal plane of the seat. For the movable connection to the spar,the closure device can be easily and reliably opened when the tie stripis pulled in directions over a very wide range of angles, so thatrapidity and ease of access to the life jacket are ensured.

In another advantageous exemplary embodiment of the present invention, awall element of the pouch is mounted in the area of the opening edge ofthe pouch below the spar. On both sides of the flexible strip supportingthe half-element of the press-stud closure, flat adherent elements maybe mounted on the spar which form a flat fastening, together withopposite half-elements mounted on the opening edge of the accessibleother wall element of the pouch. The retention force of this fasteningis designed so that the adherent elements are disengaged when the strapopens the snap connection on the press-stud closure head and thehalf-elements of the latter are moved away from each other.

Other objects, advantages and salient features of the present inventionwill become apparent from the following detailed description, which,taken in conjunction with the annexed drawings, discloses a preferredembodiment of the present invention.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

Referring to the drawings which form a part of this disclosure:

FIG. 1 is a highly simplified, diagrammatic, side elevational view of aconventional life jacket pouch in section mounted below the front sparof a seat;

FIG. 2 is a highly simplified diagrammatic, side elevational view of alife jacket pouch according to an embodiment of the present invention,mounted below the front spar of a seat;

FIG. 3 is a highly simplified perspective view of the life jacket pouchof FIG. 2 when opened, without the life jacket pack in the pocket;

FIGS. 4 and 5 are highly simplified perspective views of the life jacketpouch of FIG. 2 in the closed state, the various directions of pull inthe event of manual operation of the opening strip for the purpose ofopening being illustrated; and

FIG. 6 is a highly simplified detached perspective view of the lifejacket pouch of FIG. 2 when open, with life jacket pack inside thepocket.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

FIG. 1 shows only the area of a pocket 3 of a closure device 1 of a lifejacket pouch corresponding to the state of the art into which the lifejacket pack is inserted. The pouch is mounted below a spar 5 in the formof a bracing tube extending in the transverse direction along the frontside of an aircraft passenger seat. The pocket 3 is closed along itsopening edge 7 by a surface fastener 9 having interacting fasteningelements in the form of a padded strip and a hooked strip.

A tie strip 11 of an opening strip has on its free end a grip loop 15for manual operation by the seat occupant, and extends into the interiorof the pocket 3 through the padded strip and hooked strip of thefastener 9. If the opening strip 13 is operated by pulling the grip loop15, the tie strip 11 of the fastener extending between the fasteningelements of the fastener 9, which tie strip 11 is connected inside thepocket 3 to the life jacket pack (not shown), effects lifting of thefastening elements, that is, opening of the pocket 3.

FIG. 2, which covers an area similar to that of FIG. 1 on the spar 5 ofan aircraft passenger seat, illustrates the design of one embodiment ofthe life jacket pouch according to the present invention. FIG. 2 showsthe pocket 3 having the flexible wall elements partly opened, but withno life jacket pouch in it. A wall element 17 of the pocket 3, is shownin the drawing positioned below, at the bottom, with its opening edge 7spaced at a distance from the spar 5. FIG. 3 illustrates a similarsituation in which the pocket 3 has been fully opened, and with no lifejacket pouch present in the pocket 3. The position of the life jacketpouch 19 in the pocket 3 after opening is shown only in the drawing ofFIG. 6.

As is to be seen the most clearly in FIGS. 2 and 3, the closure deviceof the pocket 3 has, on the opening edge 7, a press-stud fastener withpress-stud half-elements 21 and 23 which may be brought together to forma snap connection. The opening strip 13 has, in the transitional areabetween outer grip loop 15 and tie strip 11, an opening 25 through whichextends press-stud fastener 21, 23. FIG. 3, in particular, shows thatthe press-stud or snap half-element 21 extends through the opening 25 inthe tie strip 11. In the illustration in FIG. 2, the tie strip 11 isshown in a position in which the other press-stud or snap half-element23 extends through the opening 25.

If the pocket 3 on the opening edge 7 is closed, that is, if the bottomwall element 17 supporting the press-stud half-element 21 has beenpositioned near the spar 5, the press-stud closure is closed byinsertion of the half-element 21 into the press-stud half-element 23suspended from the spar 5. As is to be seen the most clearly in FIGS. 2and 3, the half-element 23 associated with the spar 5 is not rigidlyconnected to the spar 5. Rather half-element 23 is suspended from thespar 5 by a retaining strip in the form of a short, flexible strapsegment 27. The strap segment 27 is secured by a retaining screw to thespar 5. Spar 5 is in the form of a bracing tube into which an embeddednut 31 (FIG. 2) is inserted and which is engaged by the screw 29.

As seen most clearly in FIGS. 3 to 6, flat retaining elements 33 may beengaged with associated opposite retaining elements 35 on the openingedge 7 of the wall element 17 of the pocket 3 when the pocket 3 isclosed. Retaining elements 33 extend from both sides of the point ofapplication of the strap segment 27 on the spar 5.

As best seen in FIGS. 3 to 6, the tie strip 11 is lengthened so as toextend into the interior of the pocket 3 to form a pull-out cord 39anchored to the inner end 37 for extracting the life jacket pack 19(FIG. 6). FIG. 3 shows that the pull-out cord 39 forms a coil 41 insidethe pocket 3 for encircling the life jacket pack (not shown in FIG. 3),so that the life jacket pack 19 surrounded by the coil 41 is extractedfrom the pocket 3 when the latter is opened by the tie strip 11 and thepull-out cord 39, by pulling on the grip loop 15 of the opening strip13.

FIG. 2 illustrates a range of 90° of the angles of the directions ofextraction in which the grip loop 15 of the opening strip 13 may bepulled to effect definite opening of the closure device of the pocket 3.The range of angles extends 45° above and 45° below the horizontal seatplane, designated as 45. FIGS. 4 and 5 illustrate manual operation ofthe grip loop 15 in the lower (FIG. 4) and upper (FIG. 5) portion of therange of angles. The seat passenger has available to him virtually anydesired options for opening, so that the life jacket pouch may be openedrapidly in an emergency without concern for possible consequences.

While one embodiment has been chosen to illustrate the invention, itwill be understood by those skilled in the art that various changes andmodifications can be made therein without departing from the scope ofthe invention as defined in the appended claims.

1. An aircraft passenger seat, comprising: a seating surface; a forwardspar extending in a direction transverse to a direction of the seat; alife jacket pocket located below said seating surface, said life jacketpocket including first and second wall elements movable relative to oneanother and having an opening edge along which said wall elements can befirmly and releasably fastened, closure means, adjacent said openingedge, for firmly and releasably fastening said wall elements along saidopening edge, said closure means having at least one pair of retainingelements generating a closing force acting between said wall elements onsaid opening edge, said pair of retaining elements being a snap fastenerhaving a first one-half element connected to said forward spar and asecond one-half element affixed to said first wall element adjacent saidopening edge and proximate said forward spar in a closed position ofsaid pocket, and a manually operated opening strip for overcoming theclosing force to open said pocket, said opening strip having a tie stripacting on said pair of retaining elements and having an opening throughwhich said snap fastener extends; and a life jacket located in saidpocket.
 2. An aircraft passenger seat according to claim 1 wherein saidfirst one-half element is movable connected to said forward spar.
 3. Anaircraft passenger seat according to claim 2 wherein said first one-halfelement is secured on a free end of a short, flexible strap segmentsuspended from said forward spar.
 4. An aircraft passenger seataccording to claim 3 wherein mating flat retaining elements are mountedon said forward spar on both sides of said flexible strap segment and onsaid second wall element for mounting said second wall element adjacentsaid opening edge below said forward spar.
 5. An aircraft passenger seataccording to claim 3 wherein said flexible strap segment is connected bya screw connection to said forward spar adjacent an end of said flexiblestrap segment opposite said first one-half element.
 6. An aircraftpassenger seat comprising: a seating surface; a life jacket pocketlocated below said seating surface said life jacket pocket includingfirst and second wall elements movable relative to one another andhaving an opening edge along which said wall elements can be firmly andreleasably fastened, closure means, adjacent said opening edge, forfirmly and releasably fastening said wall elements along said openingedge, said closure means having at least one pair of retaining elementsgenerating a closing force acting between said wall elements on saidopening edge, said pair of retaining elements being a snap fastener saidsnap fastener, and a manually operated opening strip for overcoming theclosing force to open said pocket, said opening strip having a tie stripacting on said pair of retaining elements and having an opening throughwhich said snap fastener extends; and a life jacket located in saidpocket, said tie strip having a pull-out cord extending beyond saidopening into an interior of said pocket and connected to said lifejacket for extracting said life jacket from the seat.